Details
- On May 27, 2026, the CHAMP-ION consortium held its international opening event in Villach, Austria, formally launching a €50 million ion-trap chip pilot line project.
- The initiative involves 21 partners across Europe, coordinated by Silicon Austria Labs, with participants spanning research institutes, universities, SMEs, and large enterprises including Infineon and AQT.
- CHAMP-ION aims to build a complete European value chain for ion-trap chips, from design and microfabrication to integration, testing, and validation, enabling industrial-scale production.
- The project is co-funded by the EU’s Chips Joint Undertaking under the EU Chips Act and by national and regional authorities, following the framework partnership greenlit in May 2025.
- Positioned as Europe’s first ion-trap-chip pilot line, CHAMP-ION seeks to secure EU supply chains, support SME/startup participation, and underpin quantum computing, sensing, communication, and simulation applications over a seven-year roadmap.
Impact
This pilot line strengthens Europe’s push for technological sovereignty in quantum hardware and complements broader EU Chips Act efforts to localize semiconductor and quantum supply chains. Over the next 12–24 months, it is likely to catalyze new ion-trap-based products, deepen industry–academia collaboration, and channel additional funding into scalable quantum processors and sensors built on European manufacturing infrastructure.
